Brookings Institution Study
https://www.brookings.edu/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/pittsburgh_full.pdf
The above study by Brookings Institution was conducted without holding any public meetings in which Oakland residents, especially longtime residents, could attend and voice whether they wanted to have an Innovation District in their own neighborhood. These residents were ignored as if they didn't exist.
The study was paid for by Heinz Endowments and the Henry L. Hillman Foundation. Heinz Endowments is one of the owners of the Hazelwood Green site, and is advocating that a roadway be built from that site, through The Run and Panther Hollow, to Pitt and CMU. (See www.SavePantherHollow.com for our communities efforts to protect and preserve our neighborhoods.)
Today, plans are being implemented to support this study that will benefit mainly the University of Pittsburgh, Carnegie Mellon University, and developers, to the detriment of the residential Oakland community that continues to lose more of its business district for the benefit of others.
Three letters were sent to the president of Brookings Institution to express our serious concerns. There were no responses. Those letters are on the above mentioned website.
In addition, the University of Pittsburgh is moving forward to implement its massive Institutional Master Plan. We have asked to be provided an honest, independent Neighborhood Impact Study, as in-depth and comprehensive as the Brookings Institution study, that will fully assess how this Institutional Master Plan will affect our community. Neither the University of Pittsburgh administrators nor the members of the Pittsburgh City Council have responded.
Carlino Giampolo
September 2, 2019
OaklandDignity.com |